Nuh (Haryana) [India], March 22 : Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Swede Jesper Sandborg, Austrian Lukas Nemecz and Spaniard Quim Vidal, were in a four-way tie for the halfway lead at a total of 11-under 133 at the US$ 300,000 Delhi Challenge 2025, a HotelPlanner Tour & PGTI joint sanctioned event, being played at the Classic Golf & Country Club, according to a release from PGTI.
While Sandborg and Vidal shot scores of 68 to continue in the joint lead for the second day running, Nemecz fired a 64 to zoom 46 spots and Sciot-Siegrist carded a 66 to gain five spots.
Englishman Will Hopkins (66) and American Davis Bryant (68) were tied fifth, one shot behind the leaders.
Kshitij Naveed Kaul (69-66) produced an error-free second round of 66 to climb 25 spots to tied seventh place on the leaderboard and thus be the best-placed Indian. His 36-hole total read nine-under 135 as he trailed the leaders by two shots.
Seventy-one professionals made the halfway cut of three-under 141. Nineteen Indians made the cut for the weekend.
Kshitij Naveed Kaul drove his way to a 66 as he produced long and accurate drives all day. Kshitij made most fairways. The 24-year-old Kaul picked up three birdies over the first 11 holes on Friday, one coming as a result of an excellent pitch shot that landed four feet from the flag and another being a 15-feet conversion.
Kshitij drove the par-4 12th green and thereafter sank an eight-footer for an eagle-two to make rapid progress on the leaderboard. Kaul ended the day with an excellent bunker shot on the 18th that set up a tap-in birdie for him.
Kshitij said, "This week my driving and tee shots have been outstanding. I've been hitting it quite long and thus setting up opportunities for myself. I hit a 400-yard drive in round one," as quoted from a release by PGTI.
"Importantly, I've had a solid and consistent start to the season having already posted a third-place finish. It's now about putting it all together in the last two rounds," he added.
The other Indians who closed the day inside the top-20 were Aryan Roopa Anand (68), Arjun Prasad (68) and Angad Cheema (71), all placed tied 12th at eight-under 136 as well as Varun Parikh (68), Saptak Talwar (69) and Harshjeet Singh Sethie (69), all placed tied 18th at seven-under 137.
India's Amardeep Malik made a hole-in-one on the fifth during his second round of 68. Amardeep, however, missed the cut as he totaled one-under 143 for the week.